How to Kill Raccoons

Raccoons are medium sized mammals that are residents of North America. They are omnivorous in nature and come out of their den usually only during the night. They are scavengers and will eat just about anything they can get their little paws on. Although not usual, a few cases of raccoons attacking humans and killing pets including cats and dogs have occurred. They also damage fruit trees and use attics of the house as their dens. The cost for repairs once raccoons have taken up residence in your home can reach into the thousands. They are very strong and can use their ‘hands’ to pull wood away from buildings, break branches and twigs and whatever else they need to do to get into your home. Raccoons can also destroy agricultural crops as they scrounge around for fruits and other farm products.

Ways to Kill Raccoons

1 - Cage Trap, Then Euthanize: If you've caught a raccoon in a cage, the two humane methods to kill it are by using a Co2 chamber, or injection. Do not drown the animal. If you do that, you are a fucking asshole.
Since you most likely lack the proper equipment, why not relocate the animal at least ten mile away, or shoot it through the cage?

2 - Lethal Body Grip Trap: These traps are used by fur trappers. They are dangerous and hard to set. A novice is not meant to try this. Same goes
for the leg-hold trap and shooting method used by fur trappers.

3 - Shooting: This is pretty self explanatory. If you're a good shot and own a legal firearm that you can legally discharge in your area, this will work.

4 - Poison: Never ever try to poison a raccoon! It usually won't work, it's not legal, there's no such thing as raccoon poison, and a dog or cat might eat the poison you set out.

Here are some other ideas to solve a raccoon problem without having to kill them at all:

Leave Nothing for the Raccoons to Scavenge
Garbage cans are highly coveted buffets for raccoons. This is one of their favorite places to find yummy left-overs and other garbage that will make a great meal for them. Plastic or rubber trash cans might not deter them as raccoons are adaptable and can rip off the lids and even tear through the outer material to get to the goodies inside. If possible, place trash cans in a secured area where the raccoons cannot reach. If you do not have an area available, metal cans with tight fitting lids are a good choice to help deter them. Clean your garbage cans regularly. Raccoons are attracted to the ‘garbage’ smell and will return to the site over and over to get their food.

Keep your yard and gardens free from trash and wasted food. If you have trees, take daily walks around the perimeter to pick up any fruit or produce that may have fallen to the ground. While this won’t prevent them from climbing the trees to get to the food, it at least makes it a little more difficult for them to get their food.

Using Traps
Raccoon trapping is by far the most effective technique to get rid of raccoons. You can do it yourself; however, you must be sure you know what you are doing as well as making sure that trapping raccoons is legal in your area.

There are three types of traps used to catch raccoons; however, only one is recommended for the animal’s safety as well as the effectiveness of trapping.

The live cage trap is a large cage made of steel. Bait is kept in the cage in order to lure the raccoons. Bait can pretty much be from any source as they like almost everything; however, choosing a food that you know they are attracted to (such as if they’ve been eating vegetables out of your garbage cans) may work better. There is a trip pan at the end of the cage. Once the raccoon enters the cage and steps on the pan, the door shuts down automatically and the raccoon is trapped.
There is a lot involved in trapping raccoons. You must know what you are doing to be successful. Mother raccoons can be very dangerous if their babies are too young to fend for themselves and oftentimes inexperienced people have trapped the mothers but did not know about or trap the young. Once trapped, the raccoons should be released in an area that is far enough away from your home that they will not return while also being an environment where they can continue to survive.

Raccoon Repellants
Ammonia, urine and mothballs are methods some use as repellents to drive away the raccoons. However, these can only be used in case they are residing inside your home such as in the attic and not in open area. This is because in a well-ventilated area, the smell is simply not enough to drive them away.

You can also prepare a homemade repellent by boiling a mixture of a cup of cayenne pepper, three to five habanero chili’s and water. After cooling, put it into a spray bottle and use in the area.

Repellants may work to discourage the raccoons at first; however, they are for the most part useless and end up costing you a lot of time and money.

Why to kill raccoons? -
Well, since a raccoon is alive, there’s no real issue with how to kill it. The problem is why would you want to kill it, and is it legal for you to kill it? People thinking killing a nuisance animal is the best way to handle the situation. Truthfully, killing doesn’t solve the problem of a hole in your home, and it doesn’t solve the issue if there are baby raccoons hidden somewhere in your attic or crawl space. Not only is it poor animal management to kill invading species, it is illegal to kill raccoons in most states without a license. This is because raccoons are a fur-bearing creatures as well as a potential health hazard for the human handling them. If you’re going to kill a raccoon, you should hire a professional trapper to set body gripping traps around your property. Again, this is not the most advisable method; you run the risk of killing a neighbor’s pet or an innocent, wild creature. If you really want to get rid of raccoons, look into have them trapped in removed. Not only will your pest animal be gone, you won’t have to worry about finding and removing babies that are stashed somewhere in your home.